Like an exam you haven’t studied for, the Carleton University Students’ Association elections are quickly approaching. Candidate nominations have already begun and voting is just a couple of weeks away.
While this year’s election process has largely remained the same despite moving online, the next few weeks might still be overwhelming for those who aren’t up to speed. Here’s everything you need to know about the CUSA elections.
Important dates
Jan. 20-22: After submitting candidate interest forms, candidates are listed on nomination ballots, which have been sent to all eligible Carleton students via their school email. In order to stand for election (i.e. actually run), candidates must receive a certain number of virtual signatures securing their nomination.
Executive candidates need to collect at least 100 signatures, while candidates for councillor seats need anywhere from two to 14 signatures, depending on their faculty.
Jan. 25-26: During this “blackout period,” candidates are prohibited from campaigning as signatures from the nomination ballots are verified. The chief electoral officer will inform candidates whether they reached the required signatures to stand for election.
Jan. 27 to Feb. 2: Candidates campaign for five days, during which two executive debates will be held. A councillor debate will be held “if there is sufficient interest,” per the electoral code.
Feb. 3-4: Campaigning ends and students will vote via an online ballot sent to their school emails.
Who am I voting for?
Students will vote for CUSA’s six executive positions and 26 councillor positions. The list of candidates on the ballot won’t be announced until Jan. 25 at the earliest and the Charlatan will publish profiles with each candidate when the list is released.
Thirty-three students are up for nomination for the six executive positions, including four of the six current CUSA executives.
What’s different?
Even with the elections moving completely online, the biggest change this year is a shift to ranked choice voting for executives.
When students vote for each of the six executive positions, they will rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate has more than 50 per cent of the vote on the first ballot, the candidate with the lowest number of first place ballots will be eliminated and votes for that candidate will be distributed to each voter’s second choice.
This process will continue until one candidate has a majority of the votes.
Councillors votes will still be counted using the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate with the most votes wins.
“By pilot testing [ranked choice voting] with the executive candidates, we can provide further evidence that fully implementing it would be a success,” a document on the CUSA elections website reads.
In terms of campaigning, candidates are now prohibited from campaigning anywhere on campus. Additionally, campaigning is not allowed in any online classes.
